Design Advice Request - Using JDBC in a utility class

Question

I have a utility class that I would like to use from any client code, regardless of whether that code is executing in a transaction or not.
          This seems to greatly complicate the JDBC access from within the utility class. I appreciate any advice.
          The utility class may both read from and write to the database. It currently attempts to detect whether it is in a transaction (it tests whether TransactionHelper.getTransactionHelper().getTransaction() is null to do this -- please point out if there is a better way.)
          If in a transaction, the utility uses a data source which is linked to an XA connection pool, since it must assume other database activity may be occurring on the tx. If not in a transaction, however, it uses a data source linked to a non-XA connection pool, since the XA connection pool will not work outside of a transaction.
          It seems like there should be an easier way -- are we overlooking some simpler solution?
          The database is Oracle 9i and we are using the Oracle thin drivers.
          Thanks in advance,
          Ken Clark

Answer 1

Ken Clark wrote:
          > I am not sure what you mean by this:
          >
          > "do all your JDBC work in the
          > scope of a top-level method (or methods)
          > with *all* jdbc variables method-level
          > variables,"
          I saw the code you sent me, and that is what it does, so no worries here.
          >
          > I originally built this with a non-XA DataSource, but found that when the utility was called from within a transaction, I would get errors that there was already a connection in use and that I therefore needed to use an XA connection.
          >
          > Switching to XA DataSource fixed that problem, but then in other cases when not in a transaction, I would get errors saying that an XA Connection could not be used outside a transaction.
          >
          > Since my utility has no control over the callers state, I came up with the solution stated previously, where I determine if in a Tx and then use the corresponding DataSource.
          >
          > Is there just a matter of configuration such that I can use a non-XA DS in all cases?
          I am saying a non transactional DataSource, not a non XA data source. Ie, a datasource that
          is unaware of whether there is a UserTransaction underway. A transactional data source can
          be either XA or not. In the former case, multiple XA connections can and will be entrained
          in any ongoing transactino, and non-XA (but transactional) datasources can and will be
          used in a tx, but only one per tx because they have no 2-phase commit capability.
          Ie; In the config file, you will see TxDataSource for a transactional datasource
          to a pool (whether XA or not), and you will see DataSource for a non-transactional
          data source.
          Joe